I have run tons of trivia events for tweens and teens: Star Wars, Pokemon, Stranger Things, NHL, Harry Potter, Superheros, and now: The Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ideally, I run trivia events shortly before or after a major movie release. That’s pretty much all the time when it comes to Marvel movies (and every December when… Read More Marvel Trivia for Tweens and Teens
Painting + Emojis + Galaxy?! It’s a kid’s dream come true! It’s my dream come true! I think most libraries could run this program once a month and it would fill up every time with new kids. It is incredibly appealing, plus it’s a skill-based challenge that both parents and kids love. I run this… Read More Emoji Paint Workshop
When I first started doing storytimes three years ago, they were fine. At their best, kids were engaged. They sat still during 2 stories and laughed at all the right times. Parents softly sang along to the songs, and helped kids complete their craft. As they left, kids gave me hugs and parents politely thanked… Read More How I Levelled Up My Toddler Storytime
You stumble across a new idea for a children’s program! Your screen glows with the promise of good things to come. To dive into the idea and learn more, keep reading. To ignore your instincts and abort the mission, hit ctrl + w. Choose Your Own Adventure is not affiliated with this program or blog… Read More Write Your Own Adventure – A CYOA Creative Writing Program for Kids
Tiny pancakes, tiny pizza, tiny cheesecakes, tiny icecream sundaes, tiny juice, tiny spaghetti and TWEENS?! How can you go wrong? Tiny Food has been a huge trend for about a year according to youtubers and instagram. I loved Teen Services Underground’s post about a Tiny Food Party, and I decided to give it a try… Read More Tiny Food Party for Tweens: Program Outline
If I had the time, I would LOVE to start a whole new blog devoted only to serving tweens in the library. Instead I will work towards presenting at a conference on the topic (!!!), and in the meantime I will continue writing about it here. Tween Club, for grades 5 – 8, is all… Read More Tween Club: Zombie Barbies
This program wins the award for most delightful smelling program I’ve ever done! But more importantly, it was a fun and valuable experience for 25 teens and tweens. I decided to open the workshop up to an extra 5 attendees at the last minute because there were so many kids who wanted to come! We… Read More Bath Bomb and Sugar Scrub Workshop – Program Outline
Creative writing in libraries is a no-brainer. I will always have a special fondness for creative writing programs: when I was a kid I would spend hours filling notebooks with my “novels,” and was encouraged to continue after winning a children’s creative writing contest put on by my local library. Now I have the opportunity… Read More Creative Writing for Tweens: 9 weeks of program outlines
This week I had the unique opportunity to do what most librarians only dream of: attend my own program! When I was still a librarian at Kitchener Public Library I dreamed up a program for adults called Bad Art Night. Attendees would have 45 minutes and a pile of wacky art supplies to create the… Read More Attending Bad Art Night
The force was with us all on May 4th 2016 as I entertained over 60 little Star Wars fans with a Star Wars Party! This was the first big program I’ve put on since starting my new job as Children’s and Teen Librarian at a library in the Niagara region and I am so encouraged… Read More Star Wars Party 2.0
Ontarian Librarian 